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For the last 15 years, Humanity & Inclusion has been implementing a range of functional rehabilitation projects using local community resources.
The organisation helps people with disabilities to obtain adapted employment, whilst strengthening existing vocational training structures. The organisation also works with the local authorities on disaster risk reduction, taking people with disabilities into account in the responses developed.

Areasof intervention

Lateststories

On the 27th January 2019, a violent tornado heavily damaged several areas of Havana, Cuba’s capital city. Together with the 3 Cuban Disabled People’s Organizations, Humanity & Inclusion launched a series of actions to understand needs and help the population affected by the disaster.

Hurricane Matthew hit southeast Cuba on the night of 4th to 5th October, after making landfall in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. In Cuba, the hurricane had a significant impact on vulnerable people, particularly people with disabilities. Handicap International has been present in Cuba for more than 18 years and part of its work includes preparing the most vulnerable people for natural disasters.

There is a high prevalence of disability in Cuba. One third of people with disabilities have an intellectual impairment. Handicap International’s project aims at improving the living conditions of people with disabilities and their families and promotes their inclusion in communities in Piñar del Rio province, in the west of Cuba.

Background

In Cuba, the largest country in the Caribbean, the most vulnerable people, and people with disabilities in particular, find it difficult to access healthcare and employment.

The Republic of Cuba is the largest country in the Caribbean. It has a population of 11 million people. In 2015, Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced the restoration of diplomatic relations between their two countries, ending an almost 50-year absence of relations. Although people with disabilities receive free medical care, the lack of transport and of modern, specialist equipment (such as hearing tests) limit this access to healthcare. People with disabilities are particularly vulnerable when natural disasters occur, in particular hurricanes such as hurricane Matthew, which hit the east of Cuba in October 2016, affecting 300,000 people.